Disney parks are as colorful as their films. There’s so much to look at and explore at every Disney destination, which adds to the magic of visiting these places. Yet, there are some colors at the theme parks that you see all the time but might not be aware of.
Disney cleverly uses colors to its advantage. One way it does that is by employing certain shades as camouflage. Some colors make things less visible, allowing the company to hide what they don’t want guests to notice. It’s just one of the many incredible ways these parks operate.
What Are Disney’s Camouflage Colors?
Disney uses two colors throughout its parks to provide camouflage. These colors are named “Go Away Green” and “Blending Blue.” If you can’t picture what colors these names are referring to, that means the colors are staying hidden and doing their jobs properly.
Go Away Green
Go Away Green, also known as “No See Um Green,” is a grayish-green color that appears frequently at all Disney parks. It’s used across Disney properties to make certain items blend in with foliage. If there’s an item that Disney wants to make sure isn’t a focal point, such as a “staff only” area or a lamp post, Go Away Green is the go-to color if plants are around. It’s used more often than Blending Blue because it can blend in with some grays and blues, too.
Go Away Green
Hex #9EBDAB
RGB 158, 189, 171
CMYK 16, 0, 10, 26
Blending Blue
Blending Blue, also known as “Bye-Bye Blue,” serves a similar function to Go Away Green. It’s a pale, light blue shade. So, instead of helping items blend in with plants, it’s used to make certain things camouflage with the sky. This color is typically used for large or tall structures, such as buildings outside the park, that Disney doesn’t want people looking at.
Blending Blue
Hex #B1D4F2
RGB 177, 212, 242
CMYK 27, 12, 0, 5
How Are These Colors Used at the Disney Parks?
If you’re thinking about these colors off the top of your head, you might have difficulty picturing an example where they’re used. That’s because these aren’t the colors you usually focus on at Disney parks. Yet, now that you know about them, you’ll likely start noticing them everywhere if you keep an eye out.
Examples of Go Away Green
Disney most commonly uses Go Away Green on fences, lamp posts, pipes, fire hydrants, and garbage bins. While the color doesn’t make these items invisible, it ensures they’re not the focal point. So, you can still easily find garbage cans in the park, but your eyes aren’t drawn to them before the attractions.
You might also find Go Away Green in exclusive areas, such as cast member areas or Club 33. Club 33 is an exclusive members-only club in Disneyland. Its entrance is painted with this camouflaging green color so guests don’t try to go in the door by mistake. Backstage areas of certain rides, such as Big Thunder Mountain, also use a green shade to make them less noticeable.
Examples of Blending Blue
You’ll usually find Blending Blue used for objects above the tree line. This could include construction fences, mechanical equipment, and tall buildings. A popular example is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT. The building that holds most of the ride’s track is painted in Blending Blue, so it blends in with the sky and doesn’t stand out next to the other colorful structures. A similar example is the top of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios.
Both Go Away Green and Blending Blue are also frequently used to surround areas that are under construction. Of course, everyone is curious about upcoming attractions. However, adding these colors makes the construction areas less intriguing, even when in plain sight, as there are plenty of colorful attractions to draw attention.
A Camouflaging Gray Color
Sometimes, you might see a camouflaging color that isn’t green or blue. Some areas of the park use a drab gray color to hide things that aren’t near foliage. This includes hiding utility items and buildings in areas like Tomorrowland and Galaxy’s Edge, where there’s a lot more concrete than plants. This gray color doesn’t seem to have a fun name like the green and blue do.
The gray color appears on the building for the Tron Lightcycle Run, a newer ride at Magic Kingdom. Since it appears in Tomorrowland, a grayer area of Disney World, gray makes more sense than blue or green. This ride has so many other interesting details around it that the gray building holding the roller coaster isn’t easily noticeable.
Other Colors Work Together at Disney
While Go Away Green and Blending Blue are Disney’s go-to colors, the parks use other camouflaging colors when necessary. For example, Disney World’s Tower of Terror is almost identical in color to the Morocco pavilion in EPCOT because you can see the Tower of Terror behind it. So, if you don’t know it’s the Tower of Terror in a different park, it might just look like another structure in Morocco at first glance.
Overall, every color used in Disney is chosen carefully to ensure it matches its surroundings and guides your eyes in the right direction.
Are These Blues and Greens Always the Same?
Disney won’t give away the details of the colors they use, but it’s safe to say that Go Away Green and Blending Blue don’t always appear to be the exact same shades. Depending on the surroundings, they sometimes appear as slightly different versions of green and blue.
Some people have found paint colors similar to the camouflaging colors they’ve seen around Disney. For example, Aganthus Green by Benjamin Moore and Agate Green by Sherwin-Williams seem like colors Disney might use for Go Away Green. So, if there are certain items you want to hide away in your home, you might be able to use these paint colors to create a camouflage effect. However, remember that it works best if green plants are nearby.
Although Disney can’t technically own these colors, they keep the exact shades a secret so no one can purposefully copy them. So, if someone happens to create a color identical to Go Away Green, it’s purely by chance.
Do These Colors Really Make Things Disappear?
In some ways, yes, these colors seem to disappear. Yet, you can still see them if you’re looking for them. If you’re visiting a Disney park for a thrilling experience, there’s so much to take in. So, your eyes will naturally focus on anything but these hidden blue and green objects. If you’re someone with an annual pass, you might be more likely to notice the “camouflaged” objects because you’ve been there a lot and have already had time to take in all the important sights.
The reason Go Away Green and Blending Blue seem to disappear for the average person is psychological. Our brains associate green with grass and blue with the sky. Those two colors tend to blend into the background instead of stand out. They’re colors we regularly see when outside, so they won’t catch our eyes like a bold red or yellow might.
If you’ve visited a Disney property and have never noticed these colors before, it doesn’t mean you’re unobservant. It just means that the colors are acting as they should. Next time you go on a Disney vacation, pay closer attention to the things your eyes aren’t naturally drawn to. You’re bound to see some Go Away Green and Blending Blue if you do so.
The Colors Aren’t Meant to Be Completely Overlooked
Calling these shades “camouflaging” colors can sometimes confuse. It makes it sound like we’re not supposed to see items of these colors at all. Yet, don’t we want to be able to locate objects like trash cans? Of course, we can see them, but not in the same way we see the rides, characters, and decorations.
Go Away Green and Blending Blue are meant to be neutral colors. If you need to throw something away, you can still spot the green trash cans, but your eyes won’t be drawn to a trash can if you’re not looking for it. That’s how these colors magically work. They’re not removing items from your vision; they’re simply tricking your eyes into not seeing them unless you need to.
Do Other Theme Parks Use Colors Like This?
Disney is by far the most well-known company when it comes to camouflaging colors. No other major amusement parks use colors like this as frequently, but some may use the trick here and there. For example, Universal uses green in some places to help items in the park blend in with the plants. However, that green doesn’t have a signature name like Disney’s. Many other amusement parks use green to paint fences, flower pots, and trash bins.
Disney’s way of hiding particular objects isn’t exclusive to them. There are lots of companies that use colors for camouflage purposes. However, none have seemed to master it in the same way Disney has. After all, everything you see at the Disney parks was placed with a purpose to enhance the magical experience, and these seemingly simple colors are no exception.
